Since 1905
Vol. CXIX, No. 4
Student reports being the target of a racial slur on campus
Class-action suit filed against Middlebury seeks spring tuition refund
Rodney Adams ’21 says that a white student used a racial slur in reference to him and his friend last night, only hours after over 500 students gathered in remembrance of Breonna Taylor.
By AMELIA POLLARD Editor at Large
A class-action lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court late last week accuses Middlebury College of not adequately reimbursing students for tuitions and fees paid for an in-person spring semester that became largely remote due to Covid-19. Plaintiff Henry Mooers ’21, a senior from Norwell, Massachusetts, filed the suit on September 24. Although the college refunded students a prorated portion of fees for spring room and board, the plaintiff seeks an additional refund for the “failure to provide services” that are ordinarily covered by tuition and mandatory fees. Mooers declined to comment on the case at this time. The college transitioned to remote learning on March 13 due to the health crisis posed by Covid-19. In the process, the administration also extended spring break, eliminating a week of classes from the ordinarily 13-week long academic session. A few of the facilities and services cited in the lawsuit that students were deprived of last semester include the library, sports facilities, in-person labs and health services. As a class-action lawsuit, the plaintiff seeks a prorated return on tuition for himself and all other Middlebury students proportionate to the time that the spring semester was remote. With a tuition of $28,940 per semester and nearly 2,800 undergraduate and graduate students, the maximum sum of this pay-out could amount to tens of millions of dollars. Tristan Larson, a Vermont attorney representing the
Continued online at middleburycampus.com
middleburycampus.com
October 1, 2020
BENJY RENTON/THE MIDDLEBURY CAMPUS
By JAKE GAUGHAN Opinion Editor A day of resistance and solidarity was soured by the actions of a pair of students behind Ross last night. Rodney Adams ’21 and Jameel Uddin ’22 were preparing for a relaxing evening after a day of protesting when two white students confronted and harassed them with a racial slur, according to Adams.
VAN BARTH/THE MIDDLEBURY CAMPUS
Hundreds of students and community members marched into town and lined the streets of downtown Middlebury.
Students protest grand jury verdict for officers who killed Breonna Taylor By SOPHIA MCDERMOTT-HUGHES Senior News Writer Last Thursday, Kaila Thomas ’21 left her Russian class feeling a burning need to do something. The night before, the verdict was announced that none of the Louisville police officers who shot and killed Breonna Taylor in March would be charged for her death. Yet, despite the grief and rage boiling inside of Thomas, the campus seemed unperturbed, the calm unruffled. She took to Instagram, calling for students to march with her the next day in protest of the verdict.
Despite receiving little more than 24 hours of notice, the campus community came out in force. Over 500 people, almost all students with some faculty and community members, attended the protest. Nearly a quarter of the 2,219 students living on campus or in the adjacent area joined. Students gathered on Battell Beach and the McCullough lawn beginning at 2 p.m. on Friday, proceeding in carefully coordinated groups of 10 and filing down to the college green in neatly arranged pairs for
Initially, the masked man warned Adams about carrying alcohol outside as Public Safety officers were in the area. Adams, who is 21 and was carrying a closed bottle of wine, replied, “Okay, thank you.” The other man, without a mask, then quickly approached Adams and Uddin and said, “Well look here goes them n******.” The man then stared down Uddin, who is SouthAsian, and Adams, who is Black. Adams asked the man to repeat what
“No matter where you are, racism penetrates all aspects of our society as human beings, and as a Black individual, this is something that I have to endure every day.” Rodney Adams, Class of 2021 Per a campus-wide email from Chief Diversity Officer Miguel Fernández, one of the two students has come forward to the college and is speaking to the Department of Public Safety and Student Affairs. At around 10 p.m., Uddin and Adams were walking along the north side of College Street turning right into HMKL Way behind Ross. They were approached by two white students walking towards Ridgeline and the townhouses: one was clothed, wearing a gaiter and carrying a traffic cone; the other was shirtless and maskless.
he had said and to identify himself. “He wanted a response,” Adams said in an interview with The Campus. “And it took everything out of us to not hit him.” The other man, with the traffic cone still in tow, then called out, “Charlie, Charlie, c’mon, it’s time to go.” Both students then walked off towards the Ridgeline Suites. About an hour after the incident, Adams posted a Twitter thread deContinued online at middleburycampus.com
Continued online at middleburycampus.com
Middlebury mourns Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death and reflects on her legacy By CAROLINE KAPP & HATTIE LEFAVOUR Senior News Editor & Managing Editor Before she was Notorious, before she sat on the highest court in the land, before she argued in front of that very court against gender-based discrimination, Ruth Bader was a dedicated college student who snuck books into the bathroom to study. At a time when women were expected to graduate with little more than an “MRS” degree, Ginsburg was an unflinching academic whose accomplishments paved the way for millions to follow. Justice Ginsburg was the first woman on the Harvard Law Review, graduated first in her class at Columbia Law School and became the second-ever woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court when appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1993. By the end of her nearly thirty-year tenure, she had asserted herself a liberal champion for her scathing dissents and had become a household name. Ginsburg’s path to the Supreme Court was fraught with obstacles and discrimination, but for each door she opened, she made sure to hold it wide for those who followed. Justice Ginsburg died on the night of Sept. 18, the first night of
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MCDERMOTT-HUGHES
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Rosh Hashanah. One of two “High Holy Days” in the Jewish calendar, the day marks the start of the Jewish New Year. Justice Ginsburg was the first Jewish woman to serve on the Supreme Court, and it is said that those who die on Rosh Hashanah are of great righteousness. As
SARAH FAGAN/THE MIDDLEBURY CAMPUS
word of her death traveled around Middlebury, the college community mourned and reflected on the effects of her legacy in their own lives. President Laurie Patton was home preparing Shabbat din-
Big data, big implications: 2020 Clifford Symposium tackles data across disciplines By TONY SJODIN, GENNY GOTTDIENER, NICOLE POLLACK & MAGGIE REYNOLDS
LOCAL
ner when she heard of the Justice’s death. Ginsburg was a role model of Patton’s. She explained that the holiday of Rosh Hashanah celebrates the creation of a new world and, in her view, Ginsburg helped construct a new world for future generations to live in. “I believe this identity [as a Jewish woman] was one of the things that gave her life-long grit,” Patton told The Campus. “I hope every young person sees in RBG’s words and her life story that discouragement is not a blow, but an opportunity, an opening for another path forward.” Alex Dobin ’22 was also celebrating Rosh Hashanah in a Zoom service with her friends and family when she received a barrage of messages about Justice Ginsburg’s death. She told The Campus that she watched as others in the call began to hear the news as well. “There was this moment where I knew that it was circulating among people whom I was sharing this moment with,” said Dobin. “What a day to find out this information about this incredible, strong Jewish woman who has talked about her connection to Jewish social justice. Continued online at middleburycampus.com
ARTS & CULTURE
The intersection between College Street and HMKL Way is where the incident occurred, according to Rodney Adams ’21.
College fumbles approach to racial bias conversations during MiddView By ABIGAIL CHANG News Editor Student MiddView orientation leaders, prepared to introduce first years to Middlebury and help them bond, were surprised to find that they were expected to facilitate conversations about race and prejudice this semester. After widespread criticism from BIPOC student leaders, staff organizers apologized and said that the plans were never finalized, retracting the proposed programming. Student leaders pointed out that they had received no training on the subject except for a man-
OPINION
datory microaggressions workshop led by Director of Education for Equity and Inclusion Renee Wells, which some criticized as being centered around white students. Wells later apologized for the shortcomings of the presentations. This summer, the team of three Student Activities Office (SAO) staff members who organize the MiddView orientation program each year prepared a new format in anticipation of an orientation week heavily altered by Covid-19 restrictions. Orientation leaders are typically Continued online at middleburycampus.com
SPORTS
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College Covid-19 policies leave Cleans and cleaning: athletic students to their own vices facilities return in Phase Two By EDITORIAL BOARD By NETA KAFKA
Ask Tré: How should I address Siefer’s Scoop Episode 4: racism from white peers? Lizzie Kenter ’23, women’s golf By TRÉ STEPHENS
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